Bruins face a mirror image in big game against Calgary.

Saturday

Mar 27, 2010 at 12:01 AMMar 27, 2010 at 12:55 AM

Much like Boston, the Flames haven’t always played like a team fighting to qualify for the playoffs. Calgary wants to bounce back from Thursday’s loss to the New York Islanders, while the Bruins hope to recover from Thursday’s 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay. (BRUINS vs. FLAMES; 1:05 p.m Saturday; NESN, WBZ-FM/98.5)

Mike Loftus

It’s eerie.

“We need that desperation and sense of urgency. Tonight at times we had it, and at times we didn’t.”

“We didn’t work hard enough, and at this time of year that’s unacceptable.”

“This time of year has to be so crisp and sharp, and it wasn’t.”

The Boston Bruins, right? No, those comments were made by various members of the Calgary Flames on Thursday night after they gave up a 2-1 lead in the third period and opened a three-game road trip with a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders.

The Flames held a 20-minute meeting after the defeat, which left them four points behind Detroit in the race for the Western Conference’s last playoff slot. The Red Wings had a chance to stretch that lead to five or six points on Friday, when they hosted Minnesota.

Meanwhile, the Bruins, clinging to eighth place in the East almost in spite of themselves, are coming off a mistake-riddled, 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay in the first of three straight home games. While Boston’s effort level, as in too many losses this season, wasn’t a factor, it was yet another example of the team’s mind-bending inconsistency: The B’s had won two straight, by a combined score of 6-1.

Now, the B’s must pull at least a point out of Saturday’s game to maintain sole possession of eighth, or spend the evening sweating out No. 9 Atlanta’s result at Carolina. Boston takes a two-point lead over the Thrashers into the weekend.

At the same time, if the Bruins win, they could catch up to slumping No. 7 Philadelphia, which plays at Pittsburgh.

While it’s impossible to predict which versions of the Flames and Bruins will show up at TD Garden, it would seem a safe bet not to expect a goal-fest: Boston is last in the NHL with 173 goals, while Calgary ranks 27th of 30 with 186.

BRUINS UPDATE: Maybe the mere presence of Marc Savard at TD Garden – he’s scheduled to hold a noon press conference in his first public appearance since sustaining a possibly season-ending concussion on March 7 at Pittsburgh – will bring a bit of good luck to a power play that has dried up since he got hurt. Boston went 1 for 2 at Toronto in its first game without Savard, but has since gone eight straight games (22 opportunities) without a power-play goal.

The presence of Vladimir Sobotka (mild concussion) at Friday’s practice suggests he might return to center what had recently been a potent third line, but the B’s need production from some who are higher on the depth chart: LW Marco Sturm, the Bruins’ goal-scoring leader with 21, hasn’t scored a point in the last 7 games, while LW Blake Wheeler (17-19–36) is without a point in 5 and his linemate, RW Michael Ryder (16-15–31) has scored only 1 goal in 13 games since the Olympic break ended.

The question of the day is coach Claude Julien’s choice of goalie. While rookie Tuukka Rask was all but faultless against Tampa, he has played eight straight games for the first times in his brief NHL career, and this is the first of three games in four days for the B’s. Tim Thomas has been idle since he was pulled after one period on March 15 at New Jersey.

FLAMES UPDATE: Until recently, they could count on the road curing many of their ills, but they’ve lost 3 of their last 4 away games to fall to 18-12-6.

Mired in a 1-8-3 slump in January, Calgary GM/coach Brent Sutter began a massive, in-season overhaul that saw more than a half-dozen Flames get traded (including D Dion Phaneuf and C Olli Jokinen), with the likes of Ds Ian White and Steve Staios and ex-Toronto forwards Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and Niklas Hagman coming aboard. Calgary is 10-8-1 since the swapping began on Jan. 31.

RECENT HISTORY: This is the teams’ first meeting since the Bruins’ season-opening road trip last year (Oct. 30, 2008; 3-2 Flames win), and the first chance Boston fans have had to see star winger Jarome Iginla (32-36–68) in person since Calgary visited on Oct. 19, 2006 (3-2 Bruins win).

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